Eyeworld

42 | EYEWORLD | SPRING 2024 ASCRS NEWS Contact Shoham-Hazon: dr.SH@eyeNB.ca Glaucoma is challenging; it's a chronic disease, Dr. Shoham-Hazon said. It's not an easy fix, and it's a long-term relationship with the patient. Being able to offer them more and for them to feel comfortable with someone who has been treating them for decades and is now able to offer them a surgical procedure, it reassures the patient and gives them hope for the future, he said. "Sometimes we associate glaucoma with blindness, but if you're able to offer comfort and reassurance and a structure in the therapy with one surgeon or caregiver, that's advantageous for patient care." Dr. Shoham-Hazon said he considers the ASCRS Annual Meeting his top choice of confer- ences to attend. "There's so much to learn, and it's a mutual thing. You get a lot of information, and you can provide colleagues with a lot of information, so it's an amazing meeting." For Dr. Shoham-Hazon, it's an honor for ASCRS to recognize his efforts as an educator. "It's not something I was looking for or thought I would get. I'm doing it because this is what I see my mission in life to be, to educate surgeons and the younger generation into loving the pro- fession and being able to help save sight." In addition to teaching at the ASCRS Annual Meeting, Dr. Shoham-Hazon helps train fellow surgeons year-round in his region. "Practicing in rural New Brunswick, Canada, you develop an understanding that rural medi- cine and ophthalmology is a little different, and sometimes it's upon the comprehensive ophthal- mologist to deliver all the services they can; that sometimes includes glaucoma as well," he said. In his province, Dr. Shoham-Hazon said he is the only fellowship-trained glaucoma and advanced anterior segment surgeon. New Brunswick is a small province, he said, with 26 ophthalmologists. Because of this, it can be difficult for patients to come to a tertiary care center. "Some comprehensive ophthalmologists have the skills and interest to perform these pro- cedures, and I walk them through it in person, in the OR, and on the phone," he said. "They come to my operating room, or I go to their operating room and teach them." Dr. Shoham-Hazon said he has been ex- posed to MIGS for over a decade. "When I start- ed residency, there was [mostly] only trabs and the rare tubes. Now, we have so many options to offer our patients and cater to their needs," he said. "In 2018, a comprehensive ophthal- mologist friend and I embarked on a start-up to design a MIGS device of our own and through years of experience, bring MIGS to a new level, something I like to term MIGS 2.0." MIGS 2.0 would take MIGS procedures out of the oper- ating room and into an office setting, allowing faster, more accessible interventional care for those patients that might need it, he said. Teaching opportunities don't only apply to those early in their career, he said, adding that you can teach people who have been special- ized for 10 to 20 years. "It's exciting to see that people who are already well established in their careers are still interested in learning and being able to provide something beyond the comprehensive care to their patients," he said. "It invigorates me to continue and teach more but also learn more myself. With novel MIGS procedures, I too have to stay up to date and learn new technologies, which keeps me abreast in the field through clinical, surgical, and research opportunities. The bottom line is we're doing this for our patients. We want the best patient care, and if we can educate others to provide the best care they can, it makes it all worthwhile." "It invigorates me to continue and teach more but also learn more myself. With novel MIGS procedures, I too have to stay up to date and learn new technologies, which keeps me abreast in the field through clinical, surgical, and research opportunities." —Nir Shoham-Hazon, MD continued from page 40

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